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ABOUT THE WORK:
SCORED FOR: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, 4 percussionists, piano, chorus (S,A,T,B), and strings. TOTAL TIME: [7:00]
Invictus is an orchestral setting of William Ernest Henley’s poem of the same title and was commissioned by Charlie Doherty and the Damascus High School Music Department. Mr. Henley’s text beautifully portrays the trials and tribulations experienced by man. The work opens with a dark shimmering pulse which accompanies the slow wave-like unfolding of the opening lines of the text. As the menacing colors subtly shift through the choir and the orchestra, long lyrical soloistic lines emerge over the darkness. The opening builds to a dramatic explosion of energy and quickly shifts to a slightly more optimistic outlook. The piece then struggles, trying to decide if pessimism or optimism wins as it travels through many different types of energy. Finally choosing optimism, the piece explodes to a triumphant closing.
Conductor score is 11x 14.
Wind ensemble and piano reductions will be available soon!
LISTEN TO THE WORK
The Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School Orchestra and Chorus perform Invictus with composer Todd Goodman conducting.
or here on SoundCloud:
Invictus
by William Ernest Henley (1849-1903)
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
